Looking closely, caring deeply 

Naarm 📍

Our inquiry explores children’s sensory engagement with a natural space near Hobson’s Bay as a means to deepen children’s awareness of relationships within the natural world. Beginning with the 2025 Prep children and continuing in 2026 with a new cohort of children, the project invited children to slow down and notice (to listen, hear and ‘feel’) and to represent these sensory observations through graphic languages, sound, writing and photography. Encounters with local flora and fauna fostered discussions about empathy, responsibility and environmental stewardship. Through creating an Advisory booklet for families and the wider community, children developed agency as advocates, communicating the significance of respectful co-existence with more-than-human life.